


Best Valentine’s Day Ever

by PolakAtTheDisco



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 18:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1195929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolakAtTheDisco/pseuds/PolakAtTheDisco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Rage Happy Valentine’s exchange. Prompter asked for Joel giving Ray roses for Valentine’s Day/Secret Admirer fic. Ray receives mystery roses all day long from an admirer, but has no idea who the person is. Enter Joel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Valentine’s Day Ever

Valentines Day was a holiday that honestly, Ray had never given a shit about. It was a big thing for some of his friends, sure, but they were all in relationships and had Valentine’s Day plans for weeks. His Valentine’s Day plans were basically his ‘every other day of the week’ plans. He’d work, go home, get a pizza and probably stream whatever he felt like playing until falling asleep. A nice, normal Friday night. At least that’s what he thought he had in store until he wandered into the office late that morning to find a giant bouquet of roses on his desk. 

He walked to his desk, discarding his hoodie and backpack, taking some time to stare at the flowers as if they would vanish from sight the moment he looked away. Eventually after reaching out and running a hand over the soft, dainty petals, he realized they were in fact real and he had no idea where they came from. He turned to face the rest of his co-workers, all either working at their own desks or chatting to one another.   
“Gavin, dude, what the fuck is this? From one of your admirers?” He questioned. Gavin got presents from fans on a daily basis, and it wasn’t strange to assume that something might have accidentally made its way onto his desk if there was a lack of room on Gavin’s. 

“What are you talking about you pleb?” Gavin responded, finally turning away from his conversation with Michael to look at Ray. 

“These roses. Are they yours?”

“Of course they’re not mine. Why would I give you flowers someone sent to me? Anyway aren’t you the rose guy?”

“He has a point, Ray.” Ryan piped up from the far side of the room. 

“Is there a card or anything?” Jack questioned, striding across the room to help Ray look. 

“I don’t see one…” Ray mumbled, before something silver caught his eye nestled at the bottom of the petals in the middle of the bouquet. “Wait, this might be something.”

“Ooooh! Does little Ray have an admirer?” teased Geoff, spinning around in his seat to watch.

“Fuck off.” Replied Ray, putting the flowers down on his desk to open the card.

“Read it out loud!” Yelled Gavin. 

Ray looked up, wondering when the hell the entire room stopped working and started taking interest in his rose issue. He sighed and looked back down at the card, ready to read what was sure to be a nice, regular message from a fan. 

 

“Ray,  
I know roses are cheesy as hell, but I couldn’t resist. Just like how I can’t seem to resist you, even though it annoys the fuck out of me. I mean seriously, how dare you walk around the office all day looking cute? You’re infuriating. Happy Valentine’s Day.   
Your Secret Admirer.  
PS: There’s more to come.”

Ray stared at the card for what felt like ages before looking back up at the other guys in the room. 

“Damn. Someone’s got it bad for you,” said Geoff, grinning and standing up to clasp Ray on the shoulder before wandering out of the office. 

“Awww look at that, he’s blushing!” Teased Gavin, laughing at Ray’s shocked expression. 

“Dude, X-Ray and Vav! You’re supposed to be on my team here!” Ray retorted, glaring at his partner in crime. 

“I am! I’m on the ‘getting Ray laid before Valentines 2015’ team. Find out who sent this to you and bang them already.” Gavin replied. “I think it’s about time everyone knew about Ray’s little admirer, don’t you Michael?”

“Oh hell yes.” Michael responded, and the duo tore out the room to spread the word before Ray could even tell them to stop. 

“Fuck.” He muttered to himself. He was used to getting fan mail, the occasional gift or declaration of love as well, but they were all from fans. This was someone who actually knew him, and he honestly wasn’t sure if that made it more exciting or more terrifying. 

“Relax Ray.” Said Jack, clearly seeing the panic etched on Ray’s face. “Whoever it is seems like they really care about you, otherwise they wouldn’t have sent that. Those two idiots teasing you won’t change that.”  
“Yeah, I guess so.” Ray muttered, still in slight shock that someone in the office, someone he knew, had a thing for him. He had to admit, he was pretty flattered.   
“Ryan and I are gonna go grab some lunch. You want to join?” Asked Jack, clearly concerned for Ray. 

Ray took a deep breath and sighed. “No, it’s fine. I have loads of stuff to do anyway; I’ll just grab something from the kitchen.” 

“Alright. Text me if you decide you want anything.” 

The two left leaving Ray alone in the office with his thoughts. Who the hell would have a thing for him? He went through the list of single people in his head three times, and still couldn’t come up with even a possibility. He sighed and started his computer, wandering into the kitchen while he waited for it to boot up. 

Michael and Gavin must have made good on their promise to spread the news, because every person he encountered for the next few hours threw Ray a look like they knew something he didn’t. He nearly jabbed Lindsay in the stomach when she came up behind him and yelled SECRET ADMIRER into his ear before laughing and running off. This was getting ridiculous. 

Even more ridiculous was the fact that the roses weren’t stopping. 

He found one next to a can of Red Bull in the fridge, both with posts-it’s stuck to them that had his name written in gorgeous calligraphy. Another lying across his keyboard when he returned to the office, this one with a post-it that merely said ‘Hi.’ An hour or so later, Kerry and Miles came into the office singing, SPECIAL DELIVERY, completely off pitch and to two different tunes, before placing another rose in his hands, this note saying, ‘Sorry about those two. They’re the only ones I could find.’ 

It continued all day. Kara delivering one, and JJ and Blaine as well, armed with the rose and a camera, no doubt filming it for what Ray could only guess was an RT Life. Finally with half an hour left before he could run home and hide from the insanity, Burnie knocked on the door and wandered in. 

“IF YOU GIVE ME A FREAKING ROSE I SWEAR TO GOD I-“ Ray yelled in annoyance, before actually turning to Burnie and realizing he was standing in the door holding only a folder. “Oh. Sorry.”  
“Sorry to break your heart Ray but I’m not the admirer. I’m just a guy trying to get you idiots to do some real work for once.” He said, winking at Ray before wandering to Geoff’s desk with paperwork. “Sign these will you? And keep an eye on that one. He looks like he might explode at any moment.” Burnie muttered to Geoff, dropping the folder on his desk and sauntering out of the room. 

Ray slid his headphones back over his ears, determined to make the rest of the day go by as quickly as humanely possible. He was just about to pack up and get ready to leave when he felt someone tapping at his shoulder. 

“Hey, do me a favor and drop this off to Joel before you leave? And by ‘do me a favor’ I mean go fucking do it because I say so.” Quipped Geoff, dropping the folder Burnie had given him into Ray’s hands and spinning back around to face his monitor. 

Ray signed. He supposed a few extra minutes wouldn’t matter, and set off in his quest for Joel’s office. As he made his way down the hall, he ran into Barbara, her eyes gleaming when she saw him.   
“Oooh Ray! Are you going to go visit Jooooelll?!” She half sang at him. What the hell was with people singing today? 

“Yeah. Gotta drop of some paperwork for Geoff. How’d you know?” He questioned, stopping in front of her. 

She looked at him quizzically, then down at the folder in his hand. 

“Uh, no reason. Just you were headed this way. Have fun.” She said quietly, her sing-song tone gone. 

Ray shrugged and waved goodbye to her, before climbing the stairs that led to Joel’s office. 

“Idiot.” Barbara whispered to herself before rolling her eyes and heading back to her own office. 

When Ray finally came upon his destination, Joel’s office door was slightly opened. He stopped to knock for a second; waiting to see if Joel would tell him to come in, but there was no response. He figured Joel wouldn’t leave it open if he cared who walked in, so Ray pushed the door open and wandered into the office, where Joel was nowhere to be found. He strode over to Joel’s desk, dropping the folder on top of it before turning around to leave. That’s when he saw the flowers. 

At least 3 dozen rose bouquets were sitting on a shelf across from Joel’s desk. Some were single flowers with notes and ribbon tied around them, other full bouquets. He stood there, admiring the colors and variety before wandering over to smell them. He would never have taken Joel for a flower guy, but there were a lot of things about Joel he didn’t know. It made Joel sort of mysterious and sexy in that way. He wondered if Joel had an entire harem of lovers at his beck and call and if these roses were for them. He wouldn’t be surprised. Joel was successful, wickedly handsome and insanely intelligent. If anyone had Valentine’s Day plans, it would probably be him. 

He stood there admiring the flowers for another few moments before he heard a rustling to his right and Joel appeared in the doorway, looking as great as ever in well-fitting jeans and a plaid button down rolled up to the elbows. 

“Oh. Ray. Uh, Hi.” Joel murmured, clearly not expecting Ray to be in his office. 

“Hey, Joel. Sorry I just wandered in. I knocked but there wasn’t an answer and the door was open.” Ray said, smiling and indicating toward Joel’s desk. “Geoff had some paperwork he wanted me to bring you.”  
“Paperwork? I don’t need anything from….oh. Uh, yeah. Paperwork. Right. Thanks.” Joel stammered while taking long strides back to his desk. It dawned on him that this had to have been a plot by Geoff to get Ray in his office. Fucking friends. 

“No problem. So you’re a big rose guy huh?” Ray joked, raising his eyebrows at Joel and smirking at him. 

“Uh. Yeah, so…about those…” Joel stammered, trying to formulate both thoughts and words at the same time. 

“They’re nice. You got plans with your girlfriend tonight?” Ray asked, offhandedly.

 

Joel stared at him for what seemed like an hour before answering.   
“Ah, no. No girlfriend plans.”

“Oh. Boyfriend plans then?” Ray asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively and grinning. 

Joel was flushed at this point. Ray couldn’t be that dumb…could he? He had to know what was going on. 

“Uh no. No boyfriend. Just. Um. A crush I guess.” He managed to squeak out. 

In Joel’s mind, revealing himself to Ray was going to be a lot more romantic and a lot smoother on his part, but he should have known this would happen. He should have known Ray would discover it was him before he’d be able to say everything he wanted. Burnie and Geoff were adamant that he just needed to say it and everything would work but, but he had a plan. He always had a plan. He just hoped he could rectify the situation before all was lost. 

“Oh. A crush, huh? That’s cute Joel. I can’t see a guy like you crushing on anyone. You seem too suave for that.” Ray joked, winking at him before making his way back toward the door. 

“Wait!” Joel yelled out, just as Ray’s hand reached the doorknob. 

Ray turned quickly, quirking an eyebrow and pausing for Joel to continue. 

“I, uh. So I don’t know if the card I wrote to go with the flowers really makes any sense. And I want to impress this guy, you know? Would…would you mind reading it? Telling me if it’s too cheesy or whatever?” Joel asked. He was unsure if it was humanely possible for someone to be more nervous than he was at the moment, and thanked god he was standing at his desk because he was sure Ray would notice him shaking a little. 

“Oh. Yeah sure.” 

Joel walked over next to Ray, reaching to grab an envelope hidden behind the bouquets. He handed it to Ray, taking a step back to let him read it and gauge his reaction. 

Ray slid open the envelope, pulled out the small card inside and read. 

“Valentine’s Day is an overly commercialized retail holiday in which people are encouraged to spend money and buy materialistic goods in order to convince the person they care about that they love them.”

“Wow, strong cynical beginning there Joel, nice job.” Ray joked, smirking at Joel and going back to reading. 

“Still, I’d like to spend it with you.”

“Bringing in the romance. Nicely done.” Ray continued, muttering without looking up from the card. If he had looked up, he might have noticed Joel blushing furiously and wringing his hands together waiting for Ray to continue.

“I know this sounds weird, seeing as we don’t actively work together a ton, but I everything I wrote in the first card was true. You are both impossible to resist and infuriating to me. I like that. I like you. I like everything about you, and I think I’ll always like everything about you, even the stuff I don’t know yet. So how about we get to know one another more over dinner tonight? My treat. And then see where it goes? If you want. If not just tell me quickly so I can run off and be embarrassed in private please. But I hope you say yes.   
Yours, Joel.  
PS: Sorry again about Miles and Kerry. They demanded to sing.

Ray had finished reading the note and simply stared down at it, re-reading it over and over to see if it were actually real. Joel’s crush. The person Joel was trying to woo with flowers and notes…the entire time it had been him?! He was admittedly confused, though now couldn’t believe he didn’t put the pieces together sooner. The amount of flowers in Joel’s office, the comment from Barbara…he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it coming. 

Not only that, Ray was sure he was bright red and blushing over the thought of Joel having a crush on him. Joel was easily the most handsome dude in the office. How the hell could he have a thing for Ray? 

“Ray.” A quiet voice broke him from his thoughts. “Say something. Please.” Joel’s voice was softer than Ray had ever heard before, and it took all his might to look up at the older man.

“Me? This isn’t a joke? You have a thing for me?” Ray questioned, still sure he was flushed but finding it harder and harder to care. 

“Uh. Yeah. I mean I don’t really know how it happened. It just did, but, yeah. It’s you. Thought the roses were sort of a dead giveaway there.” Joel replied, glancing nervously at Ray before looking over to the flowers.   
“Yeah well, I’m not the quickest I guess.” He admitted, suddenly filled with a new air of confidence. Joel likes him. Him. Holy fuck. 

Joel cleared his throat before taking a deep breath and beginning to speak. 

“So, I’m just going to go and-“

“Yes.”

Joel stopped mid-sentence and looked down at Ray. “Sorry?” He asked.

“Yes.” Ray said smiling and looking up at him. “You asked if I wanted to do something tonight. Get to know one another right? So yes, I would.” 

Joel stared at him for a moment before replying. “Seriously?”

Ray laughed, rolling his eyes at Joel’s amazement. “Yes seriously. Now grab your shit and let’s go. I’m fucking starving. And help me carry these damn roses. My apartment is going to smell as good as dicks with all of these around.” Ray continued, moving to scoop up the bouquets are carefully as he could. 

Joel stood in place for a moment, just watching Ray fiddle with the flowers before grinning and moving to grab his coat and bag. 

“You know it is Valentine’s Day. It’s going to be near impossible to find a table at a restaurant tonight.” Joel offered, quickly continuing. “Not that I don’t want to go out! I really do, I just should have made reservations or something but I wasn’t sure if you’d say yes and if you did then I-“ 

Ray reached up and covered Joel’s mouth with his hand, effectively cutting off his rambling. 

“Woah. Ok slow down pretty boy. So we don’t go to dinner. How about we just bring these roses back to my place, put them in some water and then order Chinese. I’ve got Netflix and shit, we’ll make a date night of it alright?” He assured, pulling his hand away from Joel. 

“Works for me.” Joel muttered, reaching over to take the last bouquet off the shelf. 

“Though…pretty boy? Seriously?”

“Eh, just trying it out. Every successful couple needs ridiculous nicknames you know.” Ray replied, winking at Joel while making his way out the door. 

“Couple?” Joel whispered to himself, smiling while making his way down the stairs behind Ray as they made their way back to the Achievement Hunter office to grab Ray’s things. 

‘Best Valentine’s Day ever.’ Joel thought to himself, as the two walked out of the building and into the chill Austin air.


End file.
